Murchison House, 10 Max Born Crescent, Edinburgh is a Grade B listed building in the City of Edinburgh local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 13 April 2016. Institutional. 5 related planning applications.
Murchison House, 10 Max Born Crescent, Edinburgh
- WRENN ID
- first-screen-cream
- Grade
- B
- Local Planning Authority
- City of Edinburgh
- Constituency
- Edinburgh South MP: Ian Murray (Lab)
- Country
- Scotland
- Date first listed
- 13 April 2016
- Type
- Institutional
- Address
- Murchison House, 10 Max Born Crescent, Edinburgh, EH9 3BF
- OS grid reference
- NT 264 707
- Coordinates
- 55.92425, -3.17913
- Source
- Historic Environment Scotland listing
Description
Murchison House is a 5-storey, irregular H-plan building constructed between 1971 and 1977 for the Institute of Geological Science. It is situated beside Blackford Hill golf course at the northwest corner of the University of Edinburgh's King's Buildings campus. The building consists of two staggered modular blocks made of pale yellow brick, connected by a central cross-corridor that runs north to south. Each block features horizontal banks of replacement metal-frame glazing units along each floor. Full-height stair towers with angular glazed roofs are located on the east and west sides of the building.
The interior, last seen in 2015, includes a refurbished foyer and reception area, along with a passenger lift that serves all five levels. The concrete structural frame is prominently displayed inside, featuring exposed octagonal columns. The internal walls between the columns are made of exposed yellow brick, with corbelled brick details in the stairwells. The main internal space is the library, which spans two floors and includes an upper gallery level and a central stairwell. Handrails for the stairs, windows, and gallery are made of polished tubular metal.
The landscaping around the building was established in the late 1970s by the University of Edinburgh Grounds Department and includes a small pond in the west courtyard.
Local climate
Murchison House, 10 Max Born Crescent, Edinburgh sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 970 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 76% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 53% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 43 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 81% of listed buildings. Of these, 25 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 5 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
Similar buildings
The closest matches to this building from all 493,000 UK listed buildings, by architecture, period and materials.
- 1 William Robertson Building (Block C), Arts Faculty, University Of Edinburgh, 42 George Square
- 2 Main Library, University Of Edinburgh, 30 George Square
- 3 The Tower, University Of Dundee, Perth Road
- 4 Pharmacology And Physiology Building, Materia Medica, University Of Glasgow, University Avenue, Glasgow
- 5 David Hume Tower (Block A) And Lecture Block (Block B) Including Stepped Podium, Arts Faculty, University Of Edinburgh, 40 George Square
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